Smash the World's Shell
by Arrghus
Summary: With the power of Ohtori Akio shattered, there is only one certainty for those yet lingering in the Academy.
1. Juri

One day, it came to pass that the student known as Juri Arisugawa had dissapeared from the world. She was not in the classroom, learning inconsequential things. She was not in the hallway, catching snogging students and other delinquents. She was not by the lake or on the roof or in the basement. She was not even in the fencing hall, and her subordinates had to run that activity by themselves. It was, all things considered, a rather strange and unique occurence, only the second of its kind.

Some of the children were very surprised. Nanami and Kozue and Keiko, Kanae and Mitsuru and perhaps Akio, if he heard of it at all. Others, those who knew her, less so.

To understand how it happened, we must go back to the day before, her last day in the world, and follow her through that day. In the morning, she woke, rose, showered, brushed her hair and teeth, put on her tampon and her clothes, and, at last, her necklace. She opened it and looked at it. The glass was cracked now (she had previously flung it against a wall in a fit of rage and had not yet had the time to replace it). Behind it, the picture lay as immaculate as ever. She closed the necklace, grabbed her sword, and left. This day, for the first time, she left her books behind.

She sat in class with her sword lying over her knees. The teacher took notice, but spoke not of it. If Juri broke the rules, then the rules were more likely in the wrong than she. Such was her respect. Behind her, Shiori took notice, and quietly left the classroom.

At recess, Juri spoke with many people, mostly of things of little value. She spoke to Miki and Saionji and Nanami of fencing and battle and miracles, and walked away happier. She spoke to the girl Wakaba, to everyone's surprise but perhaps her own, and walked away happier. She tried to speak to Touga, but Touga did not speak back. Finally, she went to see Ruka in his grave, and spoke of many dire things, and when she left, she drew her sword and went to the lake.

She found Shiori by a tree, crying. She sat down, laying her unsheathed sword on her knees and she waited. For fifteen minutes she waited, and then Shiori spoke.

"I hate you." She said.

"I know." Said Juri.

"I hurt you."

"I know."

"I turned you against your friends and used you as a weapon when it suited my whims."

"I know."

"I stole a boy because I thought you wanted him. Twice. I tried to stop you from happiness just because I knew I could. I spat on everything you are."

"I know."

"I'm envious. I'm spiteful. I'm cruel."

"I know."

"I'm ugly."

"No."

"I'm weak."

"No."

"I'm horrible."

"No."

"I'm hopeless."

"No."

"Then what am I?"

"Beautiful."

"You lie."

"No."

And Juri raised her hand and put it on her chest. There was a light, and from it, a sword emerged. She handed the sword to Shiori, who grabbed it hesitantly. Two roses grew, one on Juri's chest, one on Shiori's, and they fought, Juri with her sword, and Shiori with the same. For a long time, they fought, circling each other like a dance, Shiori pressing the attack and Juri dodging and weaving around her old friend. At last, Shiori had had enough, and yelled at Juri to finish it.

And Juri stopped moving, her hands hanging limp by her side and her sword hanging limp from her hands. Shiori ran at her and stabbed at the rose, so hard the sword would surely pierce the heart.

The sword stopped. The rose was unharmed. The duel ended. Juri sheathed her sword. "Thank you, Shiori." She touched the rose on her chest, and it fell away, revealing a small metal thing underneath. "Until we meet again." She turned away and left, and then she was gone from the world.


	2. Miki

It was all wrong. Heart beating, Miki hid behind the door, hearing the notes flowing from his beloved piano. Quietly in the dark, when no one ought to be looking, Kozue played on his beloved piano, and it was all wrong. This was his sister's level? The sound was atrocious. The notes came too quick, too slow, and every so often an extra key slipped into the sound. This wasn't the Sunlit Garden. This was nothing. This was wrong.

That night, Miki lay fitful in his bed. Everything was wrong. Kozue couldn't play the piano. That didn't make sense. Of course Kozue could play the piano. What was even the point of Kozue if she couldn't play the piano? What was the point of anyone? What was the point of Anthy if she went away and didn't play with him anymore? What was the point of Utena, if she wasn't around to tease him and talk to him? What was the point of Juri? Of Touga? Of Saionji?

What was the point?

In the dream, the shadows moved. "The treasure that led me to first sail the seas was... it was..."

"Captain, we've sprung a leak."

The next morning, Miki spent almost an hour tearing up the old garden, destroying the weeds and the furniture with equal ferocity. Then, he sat down and laughed. And wept.

Then, he went to the piano room.

He sat down by the piano. He moved a finger across the keys and pushed one. Then, he did it again, and soon he was playing. It wasn't the Sunlit Garden. It wasn't anything.

The next test he took, he got every question wrong. When the answer was A, he wrote B; when the answer was B, he wrote C, and when it was C, he wrote A.

Then while fencing he switched from fighting with his left hand to using his right. That almost worked, it confused his opponents enough to get in a few hits.

Then, he sat down and thought like he had never done before. Things had gone wrong. Things had gone wrong because he had done them wrong. Everything was wrong.

But the sun still hanged in the sky. The clouds still moved. The school walls had not crumbled yet, and he had not stopped breathing from wrongness yet.

So was being wrong... right?

He thought about that for a long time. And he realized some things. He talked to Kozue about it. And Saionji. And the Shiori girl, even though he didn't like her. And... well, there wasn't anyone he knew outside of that. So he talked to some new people instead.

Then one day he found a rose was growing on his porch, and within the rose he found something small, metallic, and very important. Barely needing to think, he picked it up, and put it in his pocket.

That would have to wait. He still had studying to do.


	3. Saionji

It would take quite a while for the human known as Kyoichi Saionji to leave the world. Months would pass, and he would stand in his dojo, cutting endless imaginary enemies.

Cut.

Anthy was gone now. The Utena girl had stolen away the Rose Bride, sullied her perfect mannerisms with displays of unacceptable emotion before driving her away beyond his reach.

Cut.

And yet, if that was possible, if the Rose Bride could be so sullied, if she could allow herself to step beyond his reach, were she truly eternal? Were she truly that which shone?

Cut.

He had not seen the tower fall, but he had been to see the wreckage. Roses grew in its place, wild and covered in thorns. Beneath them, he had found a stairwell.

Cut.

Beneath the stairs, there was a door of white stone, on which was written "Here lies Himemiya Akio". Behind the door, he had found the chairman, his body hanging against the wall, pierced through with four swords. As he approached him, Akio stirred.

"Have you, too, come to see the Prince, boy? Have you a sister who he could have saved? Have you a dragon who he could have slain?"

Cut.

He had helped the man down, of course. The elder Himemiya was a monster, but he couldn't imagine he deserved that kind of punishment.

"Haah. Helped by a boy. How humiliating. A boy cannot be the Rose Bride. But that is not what you desire, is it? You wish the Prince's power, do you not?" Suddenly standing up, the raggedy man grabbed one of the swords that had been pinning him. "Then defend yourself!" He leapt forward, his sword seeking Saionji's chest.

Saionji dodged and drew his own sword. The next time Himemiya went after him, the bamboo blade diverted the strike, and a quick hit to the hands disarmed his opponent.

Cut.

Three more times, Himemiya had come after him, and three more times he had disarmed him. Exhausted, the man had collapsed to the floor, and Saionji had carried him to the infirmary.

Cut.

That evening, something had changed. His books hadn't become easier, but he found he could read them longer without growing bored or tired. The exercises hadn't become simpler, but something in his mind had changed, and the challenge seemed no longer so large.

Cut.

Six months later, Saionji Kyuoichi found to his great surprise that he had completed his entire curriculum. When he talked to his supervisor, she had smiled and handed him a small, padded box.

He opened the box.

Of course.

Cut.

He had asked around for the girl Wakaba, that he might repay her kindness before he left, but they seemed not to know who he was talking about. What a shame.

Cut.

Cut.

Cut.

Reacting to some unseen change in the air, Saionji ceased cutting, and put the sword back with the others. A little while later, he left the training room, going back to his apartment and retrieving the little box.

He went outside.

He opened the box.

It was time.


End file.
